Ingredients

Bake at 375 °F (191 °C) for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on the outside and slightly doughy on the inside

Spiced Oatmeal Raisin:

1/2 c margarine;

1/2 shortening;

1 c white sugar;

1 c packed brown sugar;

2 eggs;

1 tsp vanilla extract;

2 c all-purpose flour;

1 tsp baking soda;

1 tsp salt;

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon;

1/2 tsp allspice;

1/2 tsp nutmeg;

3 c quick cooking oats;

1/2 c raisins (soaked for 20 min in boiling water or overnight in rum);

Bake at 375 °F (191 °C) for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on the outside and slightly doughy on the inside.

Steps

1

If the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, margarine or shortening, use equal portions of margarine and shortening. For instance, if it calls for a cup of butter, use 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup margarine.

2

Mix all remaining ingredients as indicated in the recipe.

3

For perfectly sized cookies, roll into balls and flatten slightly right before baking. Equally sized cookies will cook the most evenly. I make my balls about 1 1/2-2 inches in diameter for most drop cookies. For peanut butter kiss cookies (the ones with Hershey Kisses in the center) make them much smaller and cook them for a much shorter time.

4

Use Air-Bake pans or stoneware, which bake the cookies best. Cheap cookie sheets (and even some of the Wilton expensive ones or my mother-in-law's stainless steel) seem to burn the edges for me. I find too that with each new oven I prepare cookies in, I have to play with the temperature and perhaps in some very poor ovens, rotate the pan to prevent unequal cooking. The goal is to get a golden crust on the outside and a soft middle. Not so doughy that it falls apart when you take it off the sheet, just doughy enough to stay soft. This optimum can be reached by playing with the temperature. (keep in mind most ovens don't change instantly to setting changes) I find 375 works better then 350, but this might be a variable you have to play with. The margarine helps with this too; I find butter makes the cookies sometimes too runny, which could likely be resolved with additional flour if your heart is set on butter.

5

Remove the cookies from the sheet very soon after baking and add new ones right away. With the ball method, you can roll them all at once and it makes this step very fast. I cool the cookies for about 10 minutes on cooling trays or aluminum foil. Wax paper tends to leave wax on my counters, so I wouldn't suggest that.

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Video

Tips

The cookie dough can be refrigerated for around a week and placed in a freezer for longer. I tend to wrap tubes of dough in cellophane or wax paper and keep them in freezer bags. I find this works well for storage and it is easy to prepare cookies from the tubes. If needed, I can take out a frozen tube and cut it into cookies without defrosting.

When making double or triple batches of certain cookie dough always do a test bake to see if the cookies are okay. That way if they are too runny, you can add more flour, or milk if they are too floury.